Friday, May 1, 2009

On Second Thought...

I was one of the first people to criticize the draft day pick for a kicker. It just didn't make sense to me at the time. But after getting more information about David Beuhler I am starting to come around on the kickoff specialist idea. Watch the YouTube video I posted here of Beuhler in his college career and you'll probably see what I mean. If he can translate those kickoffs to the NFL level then he could be a valuable commmodity on special teams.

I still believe he will have to find other ways to contribute during the game in order to justify his roster spot. There is talk about using him as a holder, maybe even as a blocker on kick returns as he has also done in college, and a gunner on punts. If he can do all of that then he will probably take the roster spot that once belonged to Keith Davis. It appears that Beuhler was hand picked by Joe DeCamillis, the new special teams coach. DeCamillis' track record as a special teams coach shows that he knows how to run a successful special teams unit.

The Cowboys lost at least two games last season that can be directly attributed to poor special teams play, so the importance of special teams has been magnified this offseason. If Beuhler can produce kicks for touchbacks consistently then the Cowboys will be gaining field position in every game. That is only going to help the defense. 5 yards can be the difference between a punt from the 40 or a field goal from the 35 at the end of the opposition's drive. The Cowboys were the fifth worst in terms of opponents starting field position after kickoffs last season (29 yard line avg.), so any improvement is going to be noticeable not only on returns but on the scoreboard at the end of the game.

At the time of the pick I wasn't surprised at what Jerry and Wade were doing giving the direction the draft was going for us. With the amount of picks we had and after we traded out of the second round, I had a feeling the Cowboys were going for some special teams guys. I think a lot of fans like pointing so much blame on Wade, Romo, Eldo, and injuries that they forgot how poor our special teams were at points. Maybe they reached to get the kicker at the time of the pick, but not a bad idea to try out.He could work out and if not maybe we can trade him for something of value(4th rounder) if a good team loses a kicker in training camp

Sorry...Its there, just took a hellacious long time to load up...probably on my end.

Maybe he only drops it in the middle of the end zone kicking from the thirty. I like that even better. The receiver has to make a decision every time...and how many times have you seen a guy hesitate, then bring it out late and get tripped up at the three...